Andy Burnham has set out his vision for the UK, in his first big policy speech since launching a bid to replace Keir Starmer as prime minister. The Makerfield MP confirmed he would set up ‘No 10 North’ and pledged to ‘bring about the biggest rebalancing of power the country has ever seen’. Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian’s north of England editor, Josh Halliday
Continue reading...Tehran believes it should control the shipping route but its neighbour has its own plans for reopening it
The strait of Hormuz is Iran’s chief bargaining tool in the negotiations with the US and so it was always likely to be the greatest point of contention. Every inch of the 24-mile-wide waterway is being contested in a test of wills and patience.
For Iran, the continuation of the dispute is not a problem so long as it does not lose control.
Continue reading...Fans look for alternatives with no World Cup matches shown on site, while Britain’s best get off to a bad start
Before you pack your England shirt for SW19, be warned: Wimbledon is staying firmly in its own sporting lane. The All England Club confirmed that no World Cup matches would be shown anywhere on site. Centre Court, yes. Centre-forward, absolutely not. The football faithful, however, are nothing if not resourceful.“We are here to watch Senhor João Fonseca,” said Luis Suassuna, attending his first tennis tournament with his brother and cousin, all three donning bright canary yellow Brazil tops. “Hopefully he gives us some good tennis but also no need for him to drag it out too much because the Seleção kick-off against Japan at 6pm. No time for us to get back to our Airbnb so we will be watching on Henman Hill.” Elsewhere, a group of German fans admitted they had not realised how far Wimbledon was from central London and were already plotting an escape to find a pub before Paraguay at 9.30pm. “We have been Googling German fan groups in south London all day,” said Karl Weber. “No luck so far!”
Continue reading...Veel mensen schuiven het opstellen van een testament voor zich uit. Logisch, want het gaat over een onderwerp waar je liever niet te lang bij stilstaat. Toch kan het ontbreken van een testament grote gevolgen hebben voor je nabestaanden.
In Nederland bepaalt de wet dan automatisch wie je erfgenamen zijn en hoe je erfenis wordt verdeeld. Dat klinkt overzichtelijk, maar het betekent ook dat jouw persoonlijke wensen niet meetellen.
De wettelijke verdeling
Als je geen testament hebt, geldt het wettelijk erfrecht. Ben je getrouwd of heb je een geregistreerd partnerschap én kinderen, dan erven je partner en kinderen samen. De langstlevende partner krijgt in de praktijk de bezittingen en schulden, terwijl de kinderen een geldvordering krijgen op die partner. Die vordering wordt meestal pas opeisbaar na het overlijden van de langstlevende ouder.
Dat is bedoeld om de achterblijvende partner financieel te beschermen. Toch sluit deze regeling niet altijd aan bij de situatie of wensen van het gezin. Zeker bij samengestelde gezinnen kan dat tot spanningen leiden.
Samenwoners erven niet automatisch
Woon je samen zonder huwelijk of geregistreerd partnerschap? Dan ben je volgens de wet geen erfgenaam van elkaar. Zelfs als je een samenlevingsovereenkomst hebt, verandert dat niet automatisch iets aan de erfopvolging.
Dat betekent dat jouw partner zonder testament buitenspel kan staan. De erfenis kan dan naar ouders, broers, zussen of andere familieleden gaan. Voor veel stellen komt dat als een nare verrassing.
Kinderen en andere erfgenamen
Kinderen erven wel volgens de wet, maar ook daar zit een vaste volgorde aan vast. Kinderen uit een eerdere relatie tellen mee als erfgenaam wanneer er geen testament is. Stiefkinderen en pleegkinderen erven daarentegen niet automatisch; daarvoor is een testament nodig.
Zijn er geen partner of kinderen, dan kijkt de wet naar ouders, broers en zussen, daarna naar grootouders en vervolgens naar overgrootouders. Als niemand aanspraak kan maken op de nalatenschap, gaat die uiteindelijk naar de Staat.
Waarom een testament verschil maakt
Met een testament kun je afwijken van de standaardregels. Je kunt dan zelf bepalen wie erft, wie je wilt beschermen en hoe je de verdeling wilt regelen. Ook kun je rekening houden met bijzondere gezinssituaties, belastingvragen en de positie van minderjarige kinderen.
Zonder testament ontbreekt die regie. Dat maakt de afwikkeling vaak lastiger, emotioneler en soms duurder. Een goed testament voorkomt misverstanden en geeft duidelijkheid aan de mensen die achterblijven.
Veelgemaakte misverstanden
Een veelvoorkomend misverstand is dat samenwonen automatisch dezelfde rechten geeft als trouwen. Dat is niet zo. Ook wordt vaak gedacht dat een samenlevingsovereenkomst voldoende is om alles goed te regelen, maar voor erfrecht is een testament vaak alsnog nodig.
Een ander misverstand is dat een partner altijd alles erft. Alleen in specifieke wettelijke situaties is dat zo, en ook dan speelt de samenlevingsvorm een grote rol.
BRUSSEL (ANP/AFP/RTR) - Eurocommissaris Maroš Šefčovič (Handel) heeft met de Chinese handelsminister Wang Wentao gesproken over de handelsbalans tussen de Europese Unie en China. Hij zei na afloop van het gesprek dat de status quo "geen optie" is, omdat die balans op dit moment niet in evenwicht is.
"Het gat wordt groter", aldus Šefčovič. "De Chinese export naar de EU blijft groeien, terwijl ons marktaandeel in China blijft krimpen." Volgens hem waren de gesprekken met Wang "intensief, gefocust en constructief".
Brussel vreest dat bepaalde sectoren in de EU ten onder gaan aan de vele goedkope goederen die worden geïmporteerd vanuit China. Šefčovič zei begin deze maand dat het handelstekort op dit moment oploopt tot 1 miljard euro per dag. Hij noemde de situatie onhoudbaar.
De bewindslieden hebben functionarissen de opdracht gegeven om door te praten in een aantal werkgroepen. Zelf komen ze in het najaar weer bij elkaar.
AMSTERDAM (ANP) - De AEX, de index van de dertig meest verhandelde fondsen op de Amsterdamse beurs, liet maandag herstel zien na de verliezen van vorige week. Techinvesteerder Prosus ging aan kop met een koerswinst van meer dan 3 procent. Daarmee maakte het de verliezen van de afgelopen tijd deels goed.
Prosus kwam voorbeurs met jaarcijfers. Het bedrijf, dat ook Just Eat Takeaway onder zich heeft, overtrof de verwachtingen van analisten. De gecorrigeerde winst voor rente, belastingen en afschrijvingen kwam uit op bijna 1,1 miljard dollar. Dat is fors hoger dan de ongeveer 950 miljoen dollar die analisten hadden voorspeld.
De AEX-index eindigde 0,4 procent hoger op 1065,34 punten. De MidKap daalde echter 0,5 procent tot 1066,20 punten, mede door een nieuw koersverlies bij Signify (min 3 procent). De verlichtingsproducent kwam vorige week met een strategische update die niet goed werd ontvangen bij beleggers.
Elders in Europa waren de beurzen overwegend negatief gestemd. Zo verloren Frankfurt, Londen en Parijs tot 0,6 procent.
Beleggers keken naar de nieuwe ontwikkelingen in het Midden-Oosten. De Verenigde Staten en Iran zouden opnieuw een akkoord hebben gesloten om elkaar niet langer aan te vallen. Dit gebeurde de afgelopen dagen regelmatig. De Straat van Hormuz zou daarbij open blijven. Dinsdag wordt er verder onderhandeld over nadere details. Brentolie, de maatstaf voor olie uit het Midden-Oosten, werd 1,3 procent duurder op 72,92 dollar per vat.
De chipfondsen ASML en ASMI kenden een goede start van de week en stegen respectievelijk 1,9 en 2,2 procent. De techsector stond vorige week fors onder druk door zorgen of de enorme AI-investeringen uiteindelijk wel rendabel zullen zijn.
SBM Offshore heeft de projectfinanciering van 465 miljoen dollar rond voor een grote drijvende tanker in de vorm van een schip dat vaak gebruikt wordt in de olie-industrie. Toch zakte het aandeel van de maritiem oliedienstverlener 0,7 procent.
De Rotterdamse onderneming IMCD neemt Merit Solution over. De chemicaliëndistributeur voegt daarmee een distributeur van toevoegingen voor de kunststofindustrie in Thailand toe aan zijn portfolio. Ook deze deal werd niet gewaardeerd door beleggers, aandelen IMCD verloren 0,6 procent.
STADE (ANP/AFP) - Bij de schietpartij in het Noord-Duitse Stade is ook een zesde slachtoffer overleden. De politie heeft drie verdachten aangehouden, inclusief de vermoedelijke schutter. Der Spiegel schrijft op basis van politiebronnen dat de dader waarschijnlijk een persoonlijk motief had en geen politieke of extremistische drijfveer.
De schietpartij vond plaats bij een jongerencentrum waar ook moeders en kinderen zijn gehuisvest. Alle slachtoffers zijn meerderjarig. Nog een persoon raakte gewond en verkeert in "stabiele" toestand, aldus de politie.
De politie zegt tegen persbureau AFP uit te gaan van een "uitgebreide familietragedie". Het is niet duidelijk wat de relatie tussen de verdachten en de slachtoffers is.
Op beelden van Duitse media is te zien dat de politie in elk geval twee mensen oppakt uit een auto. Een ooggetuige vertelde eerder aan de lokale omroep NDR dat een man en een vrouw hadden geprobeerd met een auto te vluchten van het jongerencentrum.
Twintig jaar geleden slaagde meer dan de helft van de mensen voor het autotheorie-examen. Dit is nu nog maar 36 procent. Rapper Ronnie Flex zakte al vier keer, columnist Marcel van Roosmalen faalt ook jammerlijk. Is het te moeilijk geworden? “Het gaat om de verkeersveiligheid.”
Er zijn mensen die denken dat het CBR de examens expres zo moeilijk maakt om geld te verdienen of te voorkomen dat te veel mensen de weg op gaan. “Dat is onzin”, zegt woordvoerder Nanda Traag tegen Editie NL. “We balen allemaal als er mensen zakken en het levert ons extra werk op. Onze dag is het leukst als iedereen slaagt. Het CBR moet kostendekkend werken, dus we verdienen er niks aan."
De examens zijn voor iedereen toegankelijk. "Je kunt het laten voorlezen, je kunt geholpen worden met faalangst, je mag je examen met een tolk doen. Bovendien is het Nederlands jaren geleden aangepast naar B1-niveau." Er zitten altijd een paar testvragen in het examen. Als na onderzoek blijkt dat ze te moeilijk zijn, dan worden ze verwijderd of aangepast. Het CBR gebruikt nooit strikvragen.
Discipline
"Het CBR heeft een enorme database met 7500 vragen", legt autotheorie-docent Paul Schrama uit. Hij probeert zijn leerlingen hier zo goed mogelijk op voor te bereiden. "Je pakt het hele plaatje. Alleen wat voor vragen iemand krijgt, dat weet je niet.” Je moet flink blokken om alle kennis paraat te hebben bij het examen. "Dat vergt discipline en dat is niet makkelijk, want zeker de jongere leerlingen hebben andere dingen aan hun hoofd. Maar je examen wil je natuurlijk wel halen."
“Je moet gewoon goed leren. Het gaat wel om verkeersveiligheid”, aldus Traag. "Je zou je buurmeisje maar platrijden. Met een auto zou je kunnen zeggen dat je een moordwapen in handen hebt, dus je moet wel verantwoord kunnen rijden."
Tips
Er is volgens het CBS ongeveer 50 procent kans dat je de eerste keer slaagt. "Bedenk ezelsbruggetjes. En ga vooral niet eerst de antwoorden lezen. Je moet eerst een paar keer de vraag lezen", adviseert Schrama. "Vaak is er één onzinantwoord, eentje dat half goed is en de andere is het beste en juiste antwoord."
Senior living communities generally don’t go viral or gain media attention for positive reasons, so it’s nice to see this story about the University Village Retirement Community in Tulsa, Oklahoma and their champion Wii bowling team.
On this recent Thursday in June, their hopes are pinned on Phyllis Wimer, known as Phyllis Killer or Phyllis the GOAT for the many strikes she bowls; Charlene “the Grasshopper” Giles, whose hop gives her some extra oomph as she releases the ball; “Marvelous” Marcia Ness, who describes herself as a “tough old broad,” ready to bowl after recovering from a broken wrist and back; and “Rollin’” Ron Demaree, who grips the lower-left handlebar on his motorized wheelchair to propel himself upward and forward for more power in his roll.
Phyllis the GOAT is 95 years old and rolls 300s in practice sessions like it’s nothing. Here’s a local news segment on the team from a few months ago:
I was very into Wii Sports 20 years ago (!!!) and still occasionally play Switch Sports with the kids (golf, bowling, and tennis mostly). They’re great party/gathering games and evidently also great for staying active and sharp in your 90s.
Tags: bowling · Nintendo · sports · video · video games · Wii
At the heart of the announcement is NanoStack. This is a three-dimensional, nanosheet-based transistor design that scales vertically, or along the z-axis, by stacking and staggering CMOS devices. Unlike today's nanosheet architectures, which IBM also pioneered and which are being adopted by leading foundries at 3 nm and 2 nm, NanoStack bonds two nanosheet transistors into a single vertical structure, with each tier optimized independently and contacted from opposite sides. Each transistor in the demonstrated structure uses three sub-5 nm-thick nanosheets, about "15 silicon atoms" across, separated by roughly 9 nm spacers. Two such devices are then bonded vertically using an ultra-thin dielectric process IBM describes as a key innovation. Because the top and bottom devices can use different channel materials, dielectrics, and metals, IBM argues NanoStack is less a single trick and more a transistor platform that can be extended through multiple generations: 7 angstrom (Å), 5 Å, 3 Å, and potentially down to 1 Å in its internal roadmap.
An angstrom, by the by, is one ten-billionth of a meter. In terms of chips, an angstrom is a tenth of a nanometer. "This is the world's first sub-1 nanometer chip technology with a new transistor architecture," said Jay Gambetta, Director of IBM Research and IBM Fellow, during a press briefing. "We're not just making smaller transistors, we're reinventing how chips are built to deliver dramatically more power and energy efficiency...." Based on internal benchmarking against its 2 nm node, the company said its new chips will deliver up to 50% higher performance at the same power, or up to 70% lower power for the same performance. Big Blue also highlighted a 40% improvement in the scaling of static random-access memory (SRAM) cell area relative to its 2 nm technology.
This is a change IBM described as a "step the industry hasn't seen in over a decade" and one that could be particularly important for AI accelerators that live or die on on-chip memory bandwidth... According to Huiming Bu, IBM's VP of silicon technology R&D, NanoStack is a new paradigm. It's moving chips to scaling fully into three dimensions and giving the industry at least "another decade" of logic advances as it crosses from nanometers into angstroms... The 40% SRAM density bump could also help architects push caches and on-die memory closer to compute units, cutting data movement overhead in training and inference workloads.
IBM sees a path to production use "in as early as the next 5 years", according to the article, and "expects NanoStack to eventually underpin CPUs, GPUs, mobile SoCs, and SRAM arrays."
IBM's VP of silicon technology R&D says the new innovation "can improve performance by 50% compared to the best available chip today, and at the same time can reduce power by 70%."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
"even better" Elon onze ogen bloeden
SocialWe schrijven "hele film" en daarmee bedoelen we de hele eerste openingsscène waarin een Afrikaans ogende man een inheems ogende Europese vrouw in haar nek steekt. Want soms mag je een boek op de kaft beoordelen, en daarom stuitte het bovenstaande, esthetische taxatievermogen van 's werelds eerste ex-biljoenair echt extreem tegen de borst. "Citizen Vigilante 2 will be even better" - ALSOF DEEL 1 EEN GOEDE FILM BETREFT.
Het is namelijk naar elke maatstaf een extreem slechte film, en het feit dat daders van seksueel groepsgeweld waarheidsgetrouw worden neergezet als (islamitische) immigranten en daar een wraakfantasie op uitgeleefd wordt, is de enige reden dan mensen het erover hebben. Terecht overigens, want dat is inderdaad, daadwerkelijk baanbrekend.
Maar Elons lofzang benadrukt iets wat al heel lang een 'probleem' is, namelijk dat (populistisch) rechts bijzonder slecht is in hoogwaardige esthetiek. Americana als UFC White House en militaire reclames kunnen ze als de beste, maar hoogwaardige esthetiek in vooral film is iets waar het gewoon niet toe in staat lijkt. Die films geproduceerd door The Daily Wire bijvoorbeeld, niet om aan te zien.
Maar goed, onverminderd zin in De Wreker 3, met Thijs Römer vs de Mocro Maffia. De GeenStijl Premium Podcast voer de kwestie na de breek - tweede helft alleen beschikbaar voor Premiums (hier voor slechts 5 euro per maand).
"The end of the Somali scams" hahaha jongens
Jongens welke esthetische ondergrens is hier nou eigenlijk bereikt?
De GeenStijl Premium Podcast over de kwestie - tweede helft onderaan alleen voor Premiums!
Social
Today's links
- Gemini is better than search because Google enshittified search: We're All Trying To Find The Guy Who Did This.
- Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
- Object permanence: Microsoft antitrust overturned; Scammer carves C64; RIP Jim Baen; GOP rep to constituent's child: "drop dead" (literally); CCTVs jacked for botnet; Olympic profitability lie; Human factors in health infosec; Exfiltration via computer fans; Congress's summer schedule: 9 working days; Antitrust is political antigrav; Ted Chiang's 72 Letters; Microsoft antitrust appeal; Vinge on privacy; Breaking open the web; Bernie on Brexit; "The Perdition Score"; Intuit v Child Tax Credit.
- Upcoming appearances: London, Edinburgh, Sydney, Melbourne, Brighton, London, South Bend.
- Recent appearances: Where I've been.
- Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em.
- Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em.
- Colophon: All the rest.
Gemini is better than search because Google enshittified search (permalink)
Write a critical AI book, and you become everyone's confessor for their AI sins. People in my life keep telling me about their guilty AI pleasures, in search of an explanation, absolution or condemnation:
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374621568/thereversecentaursguidetolifeafterai/
Their most common confession: "I only ever use Google's AI-generated search summaries these days. I no longer click those blue links beneath it, not even to verify the summary." People know that the summaries are full of "hallucinations" (that is, "defects" or "errors") but the summaries are right often enough that many people have come to rely on them, to the exclusion of actual websites, made by actual people, on the actual internet.
Everyone knows this isn't good. The reason there's a web for Google's Gemini AI to summarize is that Google – the thrice-convicted monopoly search company with a 90% market share – directs people to websites, and when you visit a website, you generate revenue for the site, which pays for its maintenance. Most commonly, you generate an "ad impression," but you might also buy a subscription, or generate an "affiliate fee" by purchasing a recommended product.
When Google strips all this away by harvesting an "answer" and displaying it at the top of the page, the bargain between Google and the open web breaks down. Google is extracting 100% of the value from the websites it summarizes, and giving nothing back in return.
This is a marked reversal from Google's founding ethos. In the old days, Google measured its success by how little time you spent on its site. The ideal Google outcome was for you to visit its page (or even better, just a search-box in your browser), type a few words, and get "ten blue links" back, the top one of which was the correct link to locate the information or resource you were seeking. The point of Google was to serve as a conduit, a trusted intermediary that neutrally adjudicated the relevance of every web page for every web user from moment to moment.
Everyone dunks on Google for its high-minded motto, "Don't be evil," but over the years, the company's mission was far more important: "Organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." That was the pole star that googlers followed for the first couple decades of the company's history…until, that is, the company saturated its market and its growth stalled out.
That was when Google started to panic over its plateauing search revenue, this being an inescapable consequence of 90%+ market-share. The ensuing power struggle pitted googlers who were committed to technical excellence against the company's most ardent enshittifiers, who pointed out that by making search worse, they could increase revenues. After all, if you need to search two or three times to get the answers to your questions, that means the company can show you two or three times as many ads:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/naming-names/#prabhakar-raghavan
Where once Google measured its success by how quickly it could send you away from its site and out into the open internet, today's Google is a sticky-trap full of ways to keep you inside its walled garden.
A decade ago, tech had three major approaches:
I. Google's: let you do anything you want, but spy on you while you do it;
II. Apple's: strictly control what you can do, but leave you alone to do it in private; and
III. Facebook's: control everything you do, spy on you from asshole to appetite.
Today, tech is undergoing a form of carcinization, in which every company is turning into a Facebook-crab: maximally surveillant and maximally controlling.
Apple has added surveillance to its walled garden:
https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar
While Google has turned its free-range, internet-wide surveillance system into a walled garden that tries to keep you away from the open internet as much as possible.
Now, in Google's defense, the "open internet" kind of sucks these days. Any piece of useful information you seek out on the open internet is liable to be buried under half a dozen pop-ups, pop-unders, and dickovers:
https://daringfireball.net/2026/05/what_is_a_dickover
Even after you clear these away, the actual information you're seeking is further buried in word-salads that anticipated insipid AI prose by half a decade. Think of all those omelet recipes that appear beneath 2,500 words of cod-Proustian remembrances of "the first time I ate an egg."
The major advantage of AI search summaries is in shielding you from all this nonsense. But where did all that nonsense come from in the first place?
It turns out that this is largely Google's fault.
Google and Facebook monopolized the display advertising market, entering into an illegal, collusive arrangement to rig the bidding so that advertisers paid more and publishers received less:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedi_Blue
The Google/Meta duopoly suck up 51% of display advertising revenue – more than triple the historic take for advertising intermediaries (buyers, brokers, agencies, etc). As ad revenues for web publishers cratered, the "ad load" on web pages went up. This set up a vicious cycle: increasing the number of ads decreases the number of readers, driving publishers to increase the ad-load even more to make up for the losses.
The major brake on this is ad-blocking. In a world with ad-blockers in it, publishers contemplating an increase in ad-load have to confront the possibility that they will induce ad-overload in their readers, who will install a blocker that stops them from seeing any ads:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/07/adblocking-how-about-nah
Google has been looking to kill ad-blocking for a decade, and now they're on the verge of making it happen in Chrome, the dominant web browser they use to reinforce their search monopoly:
https://protonprivacy.substack.com/p/google-is-finally-killing-ublock
Google long ago did away with ad-blocking on mobile devices (reverse engineering an app is a felony, which means an app is just a web-page skinned with the right kind of IP to make it a crime to protect your privacy while you use it). Part of Google's argument for killing ad-blocking for the web is that this puts the web on an even footing with apps – which is a very weird way to describe a race to the absolute bottom:
https://pluralistic.net/2026/06/12/compelled-speech/#quishing
To top it all off, this decade has seen Google make a series of changes to its search prioritization that favored low-value shovelware sites over carefully researched, reliable alternatives. Search for product reviews and you're apt to get a "site reputation abuse" result from a once-reliable outlet like Forbes filled with useless and even dangerous reviews, which are ranked far above independently maintained, rigorous competitors:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/03/keyword-swarming/#site-reputation-abuse
This has only gotten worse with AI search, which preferentially draws from spam sites to produce decontextualized, highly confident recommendations for substandard, overpriced junk, at the expense of recommendations for good products:
https://pluralistic.net/2025/07/15/inhuman-gigapede/#coprophagic-ai
It's not like Google doesn't have the ability to sort the good from the bad. Kagi.com is a $10/month paid search engine whose results are vastly superior to Google's. But Kagi doesn't have its own search index: instead, they rent access to Google's index, but apply their own (much smaller and less resourced) team's algorithm to rank the results for your queries. In other words, Google could deliver good search results, they just choose not to:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/04/teach-me-how-to-shruggie/#kagi
Gresham's Law holds that "bad money drives out good." It refers to a counterfeit coin crisis in Tudor England, where people preferentially spent counterfeit money in order to make it someone else's problem; meanwhile, everyone hoarded their good coins. Soon, virtually all the money in circulation was bogus.
By downranking quality material in favor of low-effort spam, Google set up a web-wide version of Gresham's Law, where bad webpages drive out good ones, and since so many of those webpages contain product recommendations, they're greshaming the world of real products, too, so the bad is driving out the good there, too.
This is the problem that Gemini search summaries solve: in its role as the web's most important gatekeeper, Google remade them as an ad-festooned cesspit of garbage text and cynical shovelware sites. Now Google proposes to wipe out the publishers whose content they stripmined by breaking the web's bargain: that search engines are symbiotic with publishers. Google has turned fully parasitic, sucking the last drops of juice out of the open web before discarding its husk.
Hey look at this (permalink)
- Anti-Monopoly Bill Hits Make-or-Break Moment in California https://prospect.org/2026/06/29/anti-monopoly-bill-hits-make-or-break-moment-in-california/
-
Om Malik, 1966-2026 https://om.co/2026/06/24/1966-2026/
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Why Carbon Capture Can’t Conceivably Solve Climate Change https://projects.propublica.org/why-carbon-capture-cant-solve-climate-change/
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The KIDS Act Would Require Age Checks To Get Online https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/kids-act-would-require-age-checks-get-online
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AI Implementation Bingo Card Generator https://www.workersdecide.tech/bingo/
Object permanence (permalink)
#25yrsago Appeals court strikes down Microsoft antitrust ruling https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/28/business/us-appeals-court-overturns-microsoft-antitrust-ruling.html
#25yrsago Ted Chiang's 72 Letters https://web.archive.org/web/20010720192340/http://www.tor.com/72ltrs.html
#25yrsago Concept handheld devices https://web.archive.org/web/20010620115437/https://www.infosync.no/en/news/n/419.asp
#25yrsago Analyzing Microsoft's successful antitrust appeal https://web.archive.org/web/20010703085656/https://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2001/06/28/appeals_reaction/index.html
#20yrsago Bengali science fiction of the 1880s https://www.lehigh.edu/~amsp/2006/05/early-bengali-science-fiction.html
#20yrsago Vernor Vinge on computers, freedom and privacy https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2006/jun/29/guardianweeklytechnologysection5
#20yrsago Scammer convinced to carve replica Commodore 64 https://www.419eater.com/html/john_boko.php
#20yrsago Jim Baen, sf publisher, has passed away https://web.archive.org/web/20060703024337/http://david-drake.com/baen.html
#15yrsago YouTube listens to fraudulent NyanCat takedown notice, drags heels on put-back from creator https://web.archive.org/web/20110628132607/http://www.prguitarman.com/index.php?id=369
#15yrsago Wyoming’s corporation mills manufacture privileged artificial “people” to order https://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/28/us-usa-shell-companies-idUSTRE75R20Z20110628/
#15yrsago Publishing in the Internet era: connecting audiences and works https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/jun/30/publishers-internet-changing-role?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
#15yrsago Why writers should have their own domains https://whatever.scalzi.com/2011/06/29/mastering-ones-own-domain-an-no-this-is-not-a-seinfeld-reference/
#15yrsago Copyright troll’s biggest fan commits terminal irony https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/06/righthaven-cheerleader-wanted-irony-police
#10yrsago Mississippi state rep tells distraught mom to buy kid’s lifesaving meds ‘with money she earns’ https://www.sunherald.com/news/local/counties/jackson-county/article86416087.html
#10yrsago Always-on CCTVs with no effective security harnessed into massive, unstoppable botnet https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/06/large-botnet-of-cctv-devices-knock-the-snot-out-of-jewelry-website/
#10yrsago Gun-waving cop who attacked black teenaged girl in her bathing suit faces no charges https://web.archive.org/web/20160624103549/http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2016/06/23/grand-jury-no-bills-former-mckinney-pool-party-cop/
#10yrsago The Olympics are profitable for every host city (that lies about the numbers) https://timharford.com/2016/06/how-do-you-make-the-olympics-pay-fudge-the-figures/
#10yrsago Healthcare workers prioritize helping people over information security (disaster ensues) https://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~sws/pubs/ksbk15-draft.pdf
#10yrsago Fansmitter: malware that exfiltrates data from airgapped computers by varying the sound of their fans https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GCHCVpndaM
#10yrsago Labour’s knives come out for Corbyn, but he’s guaranteed a spot on the ballot https://www.politico.eu/article/inside-account-of-labour-mps-attacks-on-jeremy-corbyn-shadow-cabinet-resignations-brexit/
#10yrsago Hope Larson’s “Compass South”: swashbuckling YA graphic novel https://memex.craphound.com/2016/06/28/hope-larsons-compass-south-swashbuckling-ya-graphic-novel/
#10yrsago How to Break Open the Web: a report on the first Decentralized Web Summit https://www.fastcompany.com/3061357/the-web-decentralized-distributed-open
#10yrsago Californians will get to vote on legal recreational weed https://web.archive.org/web/20160629130245/http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/voters-decide-legalize-recreational-marijuana-40206739
#10yrsago Bernie Sanders on Brexit: urgent lessons for the Democrats https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/29/opinion/campaign-stops/bernie-sanders-democrats-need-to-wake-up.html
#10yrsago Electoral fraud: Trump sends fundraiser emails to foreign politicians https://www.cnet.com/culture/trump-spams-foreign-politicians-with-fundraising-emails/#ftag=CAD590a51e
#10yrsago The Perdition Score: Sandman Slim vs the One Percent https://memex.craphound.com/2016/06/29/the-perdition-score-sandman-slim-vs-the-one-percent/
#5yrsago Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/29/three-times-is-enemy-action/#ctc
#5yrsago SCOTUS to wrongfully accused terrorists: "drop dead" https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/29/three-times-is-enemy-action/#transunion
#5yrsago Lazy Congress only schedules 9 days' work this summer https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/28/dubious-quant-residue/#back-to-work-you
#1yrago Antitrust defies politics' law of gravity https://pluralistic.net/2025/06/28/mamdani/#trustbusting
Upcoming appearances (permalink)
- London: Idler Festival, Jul 11
https://www.idler.co.uk/festival/ -
Edinburgh International Book Festival with Jimmy Wales, Aug 17
https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/events/the-front-list-cory-doctorow-and-jimmy-wales -
Sydney: The Festival of Dangerous Ideas, Aug 23-24
https://festivalofdangerousideas.com/cory-doctorow/ -
Melbourne: Enshittification at the Wheeler Centre, Aug 25
https://www.wheelercentre.com/events-tickets/season-2026/cory-doctorow-enshittification -
Brighton: The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI with Carole Cadwalladr (Brighton Dome), Sep 8
https://brightondome.org/whats-on/LSC-cory-doctorow-the-reverse-centaurs-guide-to-life-after-ai/ -
London: The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI with Riley Quinn (Foyle's Picadilly), Sep 9
https://www.foyles.co.uk/events/enshittification-cory-doctorow-riley-quinn -
South Bend: An Evening With Cory Doctorow (Notre Dame), Oct 6
https://franco.nd.edu/events/2026/10/06/an-evening-with-cory-doctorow/
Recent appearances (permalink)
- Breaking Points
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJmUbkRqXeE -
A.I. Enshittifies Everything (Slate)
https://slate.com/podcasts/what-next-tbd/2026/06/cory-doctorow-thinks-a-i-is-overvalued-and-overrated-and-still-a-threat -
A World That Just Might Work
https://aworldthatjustmightwork.com/2026/06/cory-doctorow-ai-use-it-dont-buy-the-hype-dont-feed-the-bubble/ -
"How to Think About AI" (Democracy Now!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBUzl_IaWIw -
The Data Centers Are Coming (ILSR)
https://ilsr.org/articles/the-data-centers-are-coming-ep-6-closing-arguments/
Latest books (permalink)
- "The Reverse-Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book about being a better AI critic, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2026
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374621568/thereversecentaursguidetolifeafterai/ -
"Canny Valley": A limited edition collection of the collages I create for Pluralistic, self-published, September 2025 https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/04/illustrious/#chairman-bruce
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"Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, October 7 2025
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/ -
"Picks and Shovels": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about the heroic era of the PC, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2025 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels).
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"The Bezzle": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2024 (thebezzle.org).
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"The Lost Cause:" a solarpunk novel of hope in the climate emergency, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), November 2023 (http://lost-cause.org).
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"The Internet Con": A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org). Signed copies at Book Soup (https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245).
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"Red Team Blues": "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books http://redteamblues.com.
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"Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com
Upcoming books (permalink)
- "The Post-American Internet," a geopolitical sequel of sorts to Enshittification, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2027
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"Unauthorized Bread": a middle-grades graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, April 20, 2027
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"Enshittification, Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It" (the graphic novel), Firstsecond, 2027
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"The Memex Method," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2027
Colophon (permalink)
Today's top sources:
Currently writing: "The Post-American Internet," a sequel to "Enshittification," about the better world the rest of us get to have now that Trump has torched America. Fourth draft completed. Submitted to editor.
- A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING
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